Friday, October 22, 2010

We'll make this one a two-fer as I didn't get the other posted yesterday.

First up is Adeline, pattern found here or on Ravelry. Last Fall, I came across Lucy's project page for her Adeline while perusing Ravelry and at that time she was requesting test knitters before releasing the pattern. I jumped on that pretty quickly. Popped over to my then LYS and after hemming and hawing over several yarns, (oranges, tweeds, reds, etc.), I chose a lovely shade of teal in Plymouth Galway. Now sadly, I didn't take notes or start a project page on Rav for this sweater so I don't have exact cast on/finish dates but I do recall that Lucy was requesting the sweater be complete in 3-4 weeks and I was able to finish in that time. How? Little seaming, the body is worked in one piece to the armholes so that made it doable! The most time consuming portion was the collar but it's so worth it. Photos?

Love those cables!

Pattern: Adeline by Lucy Sweetland Yarn: Plymouth Yarn Galway Worsted, 6 skeins or 1260 yards, Ball bands are gone, I think the color is #131.Needles: US 8Started: October, 2009Finished: November, 2009Mods: None, this was a test knit so pattern was followed. There is a belt but I like it open so belt is not used.Thoughts: I love this sweater, I normally wouldn't gravitate toward this color but it sucked me in and I'm so glad it did. The pattern is perfect, a long sweater with cables and pockets and while it looks like it would be time consuming, it really isn't. Like others, the increases within the cables are a bother but they are underarm so they remain pretty hidden. While I enjoyed knitting with this yarn, there were a few skeins with a number of tied ends in them. A little spit splicing took care of the issue but really, there were so many ends that I probably wouldn't go with this yarn again. Maybe.....

Sweater 2 for today!
My go to sweater. The Central Park Hoodie by Heather Lodinsky, originally published in Knitscene Magazine, Fall 2006, now out of print, but available through Interweave Online Store. I have had a crush on this sweater since I first saw it, sadly, the issue of the magazine was out of print and I have a hard time justifying the price of some downloadable patterns. When a promotional discount was emailed though, I couldn't wait any longer. While the yarn and pattern did wait for awhile in my queue, this was the project I chose when we rented a lake house in summer of 2009. The back was finished on vacation and then it sat while birthday and Christmas gifts took priority. Finally picked it up again after the holidays and whipped through to the finish line!

Pattern: Central Park Hoodie by Heather Lodinsky Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca, color #6277 Peat, 5.25 skeins or about 1129 yards, purchased at Loops and Links yarn shop.Needles: US 6 and US 8Started: July 16, 2009Finished: March 18, 2010Mods: None!Thoughts: I would knit this in every color, I love this sweater. You may have figured out that I love cables and these are perfect. The yarn is divine and I will knit with Ultra Alpaca again, in fact, I have a sweater lot in black, just need to decide on a pattern for that. The buttons were a gift from my in-laws purchased on their trip to Alaska. I know they are made from antlers but can't recall what animal they came from. I think they add a nice rustic look to the sweater. The fit of the sweater is perfect for me and being on the casual side, it fits with my casual style. This is my favorite sweater knit to date!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Kinda missed yesterday so there's a chance there will be 2 posts today. Day 3, this is a good one! This puppy lingered on the needles for some time as it was in time out for awhile. The next sweater is #28 Vihervaara -huppari / GreenGable -hoodie by Mari Muinonen / tikru from Vogue Knitting, Fall 2008. I fell for this sweater as soon as that issue arrived. The cables, oh the cables, love the cables! Pictures??

Sleeve.

Info:

Pattern: Vivhervaara-huppari/ GreenGable - hoodie Yarn: Cascade Ecological Wool in Latte. 2 skeins, 956 yards purchased Loops and Links yarn shop.Needles: US 10.5Started: March 1, 2009Finished: September 27, 2009Mods: That hood, that was a challenge. I had finished it but it didn't look right. Thankfully, my friend Holly whom I did a KAL for this sweater with had worked out the bugs and by following her notes I was able to fix the hood. I had to do the crochet border twice as the first attempt was a bit wonky, to say the least. Still deciding on a closure, looking for the perfect big button and will then add a crocheted button loop.Final thoughts: This sweater is so cozy, makes me want to curl up in my chair with a glass of wine, my knitting and a good show. With the lack of closure on the neckline and the weight of the hood, it does creep back a bit but hopefully inspiration will strike and I will fix that. Not sure that I'd knit this again but I'd highly recommend it and the Eco Wool, love the Eco Wool. Such a rustic yet affordable yarn with so much yardage.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Today's sweater is the Rusted Root from Zephyr Style. Fast knit. This was in my queue for awhile and the yarn was a steal at my then LYS. To back up just a bit, in Spring 2009, my brother's then fiance (now wife) asked me to knit shawls for the 4 bridesmaids in their May wedding. Needless to say, I couldn't say no cuz I really like her and spent the next several weeks, after pattern and yarn choices were made, knitting away on shawls. The shawls were completed and with time to spare before the wedding, yay! So I decided to cast on the Rusted Root and 8 days later, I had a sweater to wear to rehearsal!

Talking, as usual. Crooked neckline, we did this photoshoot pretty quickly.

Above are closeups of the stitch pattern and a back view. Disregard the wrinkles, k?

Deets:Pattern: Rusted Root by Sarah Johnson of Zephyr StyleYarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. 3.5 skeins or about 750 yards. Yarn purchased on sale at Loops and Links yarn shop.Needles: US 6Started: May 17, 2009Finished: May 25, 2009Mods: The only change I made was in the sleeves. I did not add the poufy sleeves as in the pattern but after the raglan increases, just added the cuff. Final thoughts: I really like this sweater, it's so versatile. Can be worn over a cami in warm weather or layered over a long sleeve tee as in the photos. I wish I had cast off more loosely as it is snug along the bottom but it works enough to not have to rip and reknit. I know I made one goof on the stitch pattern but would have to look closely to find it. I would knit this again and maybe go up a size or adjust some of the increases/decreases. Overall though, I love this and the yarn is great too.

Monday, October 18, 2010

I finally raised the white flag and asked for help. Help in photographing finished sweaters knit by me, that is. To my shock and surprise, when I opened the cedar chest and started to pull out sweaters that had not been properly displayed to the world, there were 7! S-E-V-E-N Sweaters! I hadn't realized I'd knit that many for myself! Geesh. Lucky for me, my favorite (read - only) brother recently acquired a fancy new camera and happened to be in town yesterday and the weather was cooperative so the stars aligned and a photo shoot in the backyard took place. Now instead of laying all the sweaters out here at once and then not posting for several months again (I'm only half kidding), I decided I'll have a week of sweaters as there are enough for each day. So, without further ado, starting with the oldest first, here is.............

This sweater has been knit by the masses so just a few pictures were taken. Deets on Ravelry or below.

Pattern: February Lady Sweater by Pamela WynneYarn: Dream in Color Classy in color Vino Veritas 4 skeins 1000 yards. Yarn was gifted to me by my friend Shana for my birthday.Needles: US 8Started: November 1, 2008Finished: January 6, 2009Mods: Followed increases as others have by doing a M1 instead of the eyelet increases. Otherwise, followed the pattern to a t.

Final thoughts - This sweater has gotten some wear since it's been completed. The buttons were purchased from Buttons Galore on Etsy. The yarn was fabulous to work with, so happy that there was no pooling, would use it again. One word of caution in knitting this sweater, it stretches, a lot! Be sure the stretch the length when knitting so as to not end up with a very lengthy sweater.

Thanks to my brother for the photography. Now to see which sweater is next oldest for tomorrow.

A little about me...

I'm a SAHM to 2 wonderful and busy boys. I love to create, or make, if you will. Knitting is my passion, I also sew, spin, cook and garden. I'm an avid blog reader and find so much inspiration in blog world, will your blog be linked to one of my posts?